Health chief will not resign over condoms issue

Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral will not step down from office despite calls from Catholic bishops in connection with the government’s controversial free condoms campaign early this month. “I serve on the pleasure of [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo], so I will not resign unless she told me to," Cabral said. Cabral caught the ire of several Catholic bishops when her department distributed free condoms last February 13 in Dangwa flower market in Manila as part of their campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS virus. Two bishops, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, demanded her resignation as they maintained the church’s stand that condoms promote sexual promiscuity especially among the youth. The bishops also accused the Department of Health of having no concrete plans to combat the spread of the dreaded sexually transmitted disease – an allegation Cabral denied. “That's what they [bishops] think, but we have a lot of programs and they can check that out with the Philippine AIDS Society," she said. Government data show that in 2004, confirmed HIV cases reached 199. In 2007 until October of 2009, the number has drastically gone up to 629, more than double the previous years’ recorded cases. Victims of the deadly disease now include teenagers as young as 16 years old, young professionals, medical practitioners, lawyers and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the same data said. Cabral said she is willing to talk with the bishops to discuss the issue but added that she would not be the one to initiate it. - KBK, GMANews.TV